Florida volleyball enters the second phase of its season with conference play beginning today against Ole Miss after finishing one of the toughest non-conference schedules to date.
The No. 11 Gators (9-3) take on their first SEC opponent at the O’Connell Center tonight at 7. Florida spent its preparation week practicing skill sets that were exposed in the first 12 matches and needed tweaking, a luxury the team has not frequently had.
“The number of matches… over the course of the entire pre-conference gave us some insight into things that we’re doing well, things that we need to get better on,” coach Mary Wise said Tuesday.
The Gators’ three losses have come against No. 5 Texas, No. 14 Southern California and unranked Northern Arizona in one of the biggest upsets of the season.
Florida comes into conference play at No. 2 in the SEC, sitting behind Kentucky. Mississippi, on the other hand, is No. 11. But rankings don’t matter much to this young Florida team.
“Obviously (Ole Miss is) a strong team as any team in the SEC,” sophomore outside hitter Paige Hammons said. “I’m sure that they’ll give us their best fight just like any team does.”
The Rebels lost three consecutive matches last week before racking up a sweep against McNeese State.
Ole Miss (10-4) comes in at No. 8 in hitting percentage, boasting a .242 clip with 725 kills on 1,861 swings so far this season.
Junior outside hitter Emily Stroup carries most of that weight. She leads both the team and conference with 247 kills. Ole Miss will certainly depend on Stroup to help the team start off strong in conference play.
On the opposite side of the net, freshman Thayer Hall is expected to keep up her rookie performance to help the Gators secure their first conference win. Hall leads the Gators with 168 kills and 11 service aces.
Florida will also depend on SEC Defensive Player of the Week and senior middle blocker Taelor Kellum to put up a wall against the Rebels’ offense.
Kellum logged 22 blocks over the course of four matches and put up a career-high seven blocks in the match against Jacksonville last Friday. She recorded eight kills on nine attempts without any errors against FIU.
“She’s had an amazing start to her senior year,” Hall said. “Knowing that she knows what she’s doing, I’m confident standing beside her on the court and confident playing behind her.”
You can follow Mari Faiello on Twitter @faiello_mari or contact her at mfaiello@alligator.org.
Freshman Thayer Hall leads Florida with 168 kills and 11 service aces this season.
